Monique: ‘The contact between teacher, parent and child is very important’.

Monique: ‘The contact between teacher, parent and child is very important’.

As a parent, you want your child to have a nice and good school time. That they enjoy it, but also develop themselves. And when that development goes slower than 'normal', you hope the school takes that into account. But that is not always the case, as appears with the children of Monique.

Contact with school

The contact between teacher, parent and child is very important according to Monique. ‘It can make or break the school time and development of your child. Also, as a parent, no matter what is going on, you want to be taken seriously. And you should not feel bad when you come with something ‘again’. Unfortunately, that was the case during the primary school time of our children.’

Extra support

As soon as you find out your child may need some extra guidance in certain areas, you want the school to arrange this as well as possible. ‘We had to find out a lot ourselves and come up with things on our own. There was not much from the school. For example, I called Balans Digitaal a lot and found Ouders & Onderwijs. By reading some articles on the website, I found out what my child has the right to. And what I, as a parent, can expect from a school when my child needs extra support.’

Special education

Despite the information gathered, Monique and her partner chose to send their child to the special education. ‘When we made this decision, we expected doors to open for us. But in hindsight, that was quite disappointing. For example, we had to buy ClaroRead ourselves, a tool that helps students with dyslexia to read, write and understand texts. The school was willing to read aloud to our son, but regarding independence and some self-worth of our child, we did not think that was the right solution. So there are tools they cannot offer even though it is special education. What can we expect from (special) education? And what can we expect from teachers?’

Raising concerns

Many questions run through your mind at such a moment. What is best to do according to Monique? ‘Just keep raising concerns. It may take some energy, but only this way do you get what you want for your children. Also, if for example your child moves to the secondary school, talk to the school and see what they can do. Make sure you are prepared and know what you are entitled to.’

Developing skills

Despite the rough start a few years ago, all three of her children are doing well now. ‘For us, our children remain themselves, no matter what label they have. Now that some time has passed, we also see it differently. For example, we once thought of registering our oldest for Agora education. Now he is happy we did not make that choice. If he had gone there, he probably would not have had music lessons and his passion for making music would not have blossomed. Now he gains so much energy from it that he even releases his own music. School is not only about gaining knowledge, it is about developing your skills.’

Monique is not the only one with questions about the support her children receive at school. Almost half of parents say they are unhappy with the support their child receives at school. This comes from The Staat van de Ouder 2023, our yearly research about what parents think of education.